Press Release SMA America and SMA Canada SMA America Joins GRID Alternatives to Bring Solar to Low-income Homes SMA Volunteer Crew to Help Install Solar PV System at Home in Northern California ROCKLIN, Calif., April 17, 2013—To support the mission of access to solar for everyone, SMA America will participate in a project with nonprofit GRID Alternatives this weekend to change the lives of one low-income family in Yuba City, Calif. A group of nine volunteers from SMA will join the GRID Alternatives team to install a brand new 2.3 kW system Friday, April 19 and Saturday, April 20. “It means a great deal to SMA to partner with GRID Alternatives and help provide solar to this home,” said Henry Dziuba, president and general manager of SMA America and president of SMA Canada. “This will be a reliable, efficient system and thanks to the efforts of volunteers from GRID Alternatives and SMA, it will bring the benefits of solar power to a family that might not otherwise have access to it.” The volunteer crew will install the system using a Sunny Boy 3000-US inverter donated by SMA and 11 solar panels. The system will be installed on a single-family home, helping the family reduce the burden of high energy bills and improve their quality of life. “SMA’s generous donation of both product and volunteer time is a win for the family and a win for the environment,” said GRID Alternatives CFO/COO and Co-Founder Tim Sears. “GRID depends on partnerships like these to reach communities that are underserved by solar.” This will be SMA’s first project with GRID Alternatives. The solar inverter solutions provider also supplied a Sunny Boy 5000-US for a second project site located in Yuba City, also scheduled to be completed this month. About SMA The SMA Group generated sales of €1.5 billion in 2012 and is the global market leader for solar inverters, a key component of all PV plants and, as an energy management group, offers innovative key technologies for future power supply structures. It is headquartered in Niestetal, near Kassel, Germany, and is represented internationally in 21 countries. The Group employs more than 5,000 people worldwide. SMA’s broad product portfolio includes a compatible inverter for every type of module on the market and for all plant sizes. The product range includes both inverters for photovoltaic plants connected to the grid as well as inverters for off-grid systems. SMA is therefore able to provide ideal technical inverter solutions for all plant sizes and types. Since 2008, the Group’s parent company, SMA Solar Technology AG, has been listed on the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (S92) and also in the TecDAX index. In recent years, SMA has received numerous awards for excellence as an employer and achieved first place in the nationwide “Great Place to Work®” competition in 2011 and 2012. www.SMA-America.com/www.SMA-Canada.ca About GRID Alternatives GRID Alternatives is a non-profit organization that brings the benefits of solar technology to low-income communities. Using a barn-raising model, GRID Alternatives leads teams of volunteers and job trainees to install solar power on qualifying homes, providing needed savings for families struggling to make ends meet while preparing workers for jobs in the fast-growing solar industry and cleaning our air. More than 3000 families have benefitted from the program to date, saving more than $82 million in lifetime electricity costs, and more than 11,000 people have received hands-on solar installation experience. For more information, visit gridalternatives.org. Media Contacts: Jessica Dumont • Jessica.Dumont@SMA-America.com Brad Dore • Brad.Dore@SMA-America.com SMA America • 916 625 0870 SMA Canada • 877 506 1756 Follow us: Photo Caption: GRID Alternatives volunteers install solar for a low-income family Photo Credit: Photo courtesy of GRID Alternatives and David Schmitz Photography